By John Ruwitch
Shigatse, Tibet – In the sun-soaked courtyards and cobblestone paths of Buddhist Tibet’s Tashilhunpo monastery, an ageing monk sings the praises of 13-year-old Gyaltsen Norbu.
Last year, he got a glimpse of the Beijing-based “soul boy”, annointed by Chinese authorities eight years ago as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second holiest figure, when the child paid a rare visit to Tibet.
“There’s no basic difference between Beijing and here,” the monk, rationalising the youngster’s living and education conditions far from the “Land of Snows”.
Away from the prying eyes of other monks and government minders escorting foreign reporters around the monastery, however, the tone changes.
Two young monks in burgundy robes laugh, one jabbing the other in the ribs, when asked what they think of the Chinese-approved boy. One quickly lifts his palms to his temples, puffs his cheeks out and leans sideways in a mocking gesture. The message is clear, there is no need for words.
Perhaps nowhere does the battle for the hearts and minds of Tibet’s highly religious population rage more fiercely than in the debate over the Panchen Lama.
That’s because there are two — one approved by Beijing, the other by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader who has lived in exile since a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
SILENT BATTLE
Both young candidates are caught in the crossfire between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile.
After the 10th Panchen Lama died in 1989, Beijing let monks at the monastery organise a search team to find his reincarnation. The Dalai Lama went along with the search from abroad.
But attempts to find a common candidate failed, and in mid-1995 the Dalai Lama unilaterally announced his choice, pre-empting the government.
The move enraged Beijing, which quickly rejected the choice and later held a lottery to choose a different boy. Gyaltsen Norbu’s name was drawn from a golden urn. The Dalai Lama’s choice was not among the candidates.
Recriminations followed.
The senior lama who led the search and tried to mediate between the camps, Chadrel Rinpoche, was thrown in jail for treason. He was released last year.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the boy picked by the Dalai Lama who is recognised by Tibetan exiles and Tibet supporters as the legitimate Panchen Lama, was taken away and put under house arrest with his family. They disappeared from the public eye.
China insists they are living normal lives, but has refused to let foreign reporters interview them.
The Buddhist establishment was thrown into turmoil. Tourists were made to leave Shigatse and Tibetans told they could not come or go.
Eight years later, behind the closed doors of a small, dim shrine in Tashilhunpo, a nervous young monk shuffles to and fro and mumbles unintelligibly when asked about the Chinese-picked Panchen Lama.
What about the Dalai Lama’s choice?
“I worry for him,” he said in a hushed voice.
NO ACCEPTANCE
In one sense, the boy recognised by the government as the Panchen Lama is no better off than the Dalai Lama’s choice.
Most of the year, he is cloistered in a secret location in Beijing, 2,700 km (1,700 miles) from Tashilhunpo, home to Panchen Lamas since the 17th century.
Some overseas Tibet watchers say that highlights defiance on the part of the Tibetans.
“The monks have point blank refused to accept him,” said Tsering Shakya, a Tibet specialist at the London School of Oriental and African Studies.
“Without the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama residing in the monastery, really, in the face of the Tibetan community, he doesn’t have any legitimacy.”
But the Chinese authorities keep him on a tight leash for their own reasons, too, analysts say. He is only allowed an occasional, guarded forays outside Beijing.
Ideally, the Panchen Lama will be the final arbiter in identifying the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama once he dies. The authorities want to leave nothing to chance, especially the well-being of their boy.
RELIGION VS POLITICS
The controversy is a high-profile manifestation of the battle between religion and politics that is never far from the surface in Tibet.
At monasteries, quotas keep the number of monks down and political education campaigns eat into their days.
Monks convicted of political crimes are not allowed back into monasteries.
“Patriotism comes first, then religion,” said Nyima Tsering, deputy director of the management committee of Lhasa’s holy Jokhang temple. “Patriotism is key in picking new lamas.”
But the number of qualified teachers among the monks is dwindling.
The Panchen Lama is traditionally the top spiritual guide and China says young Gyaltsen Norbu is being educated by hand-picked Tibetan teachers.
But on a trip to Tibetan parts of Qinghai and Gansu provinces in August, the Chinese-picked boy sounded at times more like a Communist Party apparatchik than a Buddhist guru in training.
“Under the leadership of the party Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as the general secretary, the economy is developing, society is making progress, ethnic groups are united and the people live in happiness and good health,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.
Will he eventually become a good teacher?
“We hope,” said one monk in Lhasa. “But I don’t know.”
